Points of Authority
by Teh Kirby
Summary: Kenzie Ray is the American Tournament Duel Monsters Champion (by default) and accordingly, is invited to Battle City. She comes across many problems, the primary one being...Seto Kaiba.
1. Chivalry is Dead to Corporate ByLaws

(A/n:) Be sure to review guys! Oh yeah, don't own none of that YGO stuff. And uh…yeah. Kenzie Ray belongs to me, blah, blah, blah…

(supposed scene change/break)

**Points of Authority**

_Chivalry is Dead to Corporate By-Laws_

(supposed scene change/break)

Kenzie Ray was currently in Domino, Japan, trying to find her hotel in all but flying colors. It was unnerving her to the point that rage pricked nervously at every inch of her body, but somehow on the outside she looked cool as a cucumber, figuratively speaking. Of course, so fitful in her anger and frustration, she had forgotten the reason why she was even here in the first place!

Oh wait.

Seto Kaiba.

And some tournament that Kenzie had "so graciously" been invited to.

She grunted.

The only thing grateful those bastards were doing was paying for Kenzie's hotel room; they weren't even gracious enough to give her a full-expense paid trip!

Kenzie involuntarily cringed as she made her way down the large sidewalk, trying to avoid the heavily trafficked concrete road. Kenzie had her hair back in a loose ponytail, to keep it from getting caught in other peoples' buttons and loose clothing. It was long and black, and had that wavy affect that hair had when it was heavy enough to pull out the natural curl.

Her stark, green eyes caught a flashy poster on the side of a random building. She sighed in distaste when she saw it was an advertisement for an old duelists' tournament for grades kindergarten through sixth grade; it vaguely reminded her of her situation with Kaiba's upcoming tournament.

No, Kenzie didn't like Seto Kaiba at all, and she hadn't really found out that he was the one hosting this "Battle City Tournament" until she got here...when she couldn't turn back home. Kenzie refused to waste her hard-earned money on nothing! She was going to enjoy this tournament!

Seto Kaiba was for everything that Kenzie was against, in principle. In fact his strategy was a mockery of anyone who had brain cells; hit hard and don't relent, even if they beg for mercy. Kenzie believed in duping people to extreme humiliation, but the way Kaiba did it seemed so...barbaric to her. Didn't he have any honor?

Kenzie shook her head clear of those thoughts; the subject of Kaiba always rubbed her the wrong way, and it was better that she didn't think about it.

Looking around aimlessly, Kenzie noticed how different the Japanese seemed to be than Americans. Most of the people she was seeing on this sidewalk walked with reserve and purpose, and it was foreign to her since she was used to seeing people walk as aimlessly around as she felt at the moment. It was almost intimidating.

Suddenly, Kenzie caught the rather big building in front of her, letting the people brush by her unmoving body with ease, feeling the arm that held her suitcase being moved by the cascading crowd. Her clothes were also going with the flow of the busy people; her plain, slightly loose, purple t-shirt billowed slightly while her light, blue-jean denim shorts stayed in place. Luckily, Kenzie's sock-clad, and mostly white with black streaked sneakers were keeping her from falling over.

In her confused awe, she noticed atop of the building was an intertwined "K" and "C". As people still pushed past, alarms went off in Kenzie's head, like she should know what the logo stood for, but she just couldn't get it...

Out of no where, the crowded sidewalk thinned to nothing and Kenzie quickly felt the lack of force on her body. Searching to the sides quickly, she noticed that there was no one in sight, and she worried that maybe something had happened and she hadn't caught it? Or maybe it had been her! But what did she!

Something solid, cold and hard hit Kenzie's backside, making its inertia transfer to her when it hit and making her stomach churn in surprise. She wobbled dangerously momentarily before taking a grounded step to equalize herself. Once she had, the churning stopped and was replaced by a heated anger, spinning on her heel, ready to go off on whoever had hit her so harshly...

But Kenzie was dumbstruck when she saw a familiar mop of brown hair, and icy, blue eyes...not to mention the dramatically flared white overcoat from his black outfit...

This was Seto Kaiba.

However, just as quickly as her surprise and shock had arisen, it was beaten back down to a harsh anger, noting that a black limo was part of the perpetrator's offense. After all, this guy had hit Kenzie, and she wasn't going to just stand there and take it! Besides, knowing Seto Kaiba, he probably had seen her and done it on purpose!

She set her face in a determined glare, cupping her forearms in front of her waist, despite the awkwardness of the suitcase in her one hand.

"Excuse me, _sir_," Kenzie told him in a solemnly even, but insulted tone. "But you just hit me with your car door."

He stepped fully out of the now recognized limo, looking at Kenzie with a glance like he had looked straight through her. He simply straightened his back to make him look taller, holding a silver-white briefcase in one hand, and letting his other shut the door behind him.

"Did I?" he paused dramatically in his door-closing motion, as if to mock bow in apology. His tone was borderline mocking, and quite sarcastic to say the least. "Well, I'm sorry that you were in my way."

Kaiba then went to glide past Kenzie in an arrogant slide, but she slid right in front of him, hands on her hips in a cool anger.

"I want an apology," she said simply, like he would actually comply with it.

Kaiba gave her a deadpan look for a moment, and then laughed in amusement.

"That's nice," he finished laughing, his eyes now sparkling in near anger and amusement. He put his free hand into a fist and rested it on his hip in attitude. "But you were in _my_ way, so I have nothing to apologize for."

Kaiba then tried to get past Kenzie once again, but, again, she followed him over to his new directory.

She folded her arms across her chest in resolution, putting her weight to one side. "I'm not letting you leave without an apology."

His eyes narrowed in a covered, icy rage, but it effectively froze the molecules of air in between the two of them. It made Kenzie subtlety flinch; her eyes had jerked slightly.

"Get _out_ of my way," he warned darkly, not bothering to move to get Kenzie to.

Kenzie rolled her eyes in attitude, noticing that Kaiba's face was tightening around the jaw. "I'm not moving,_ I_ was here first," she told him stoically. "If you want to leave you can walk around me."

Kaiba's free hand fisted in a hard anger, his knuckles going vaguely white before he spoke in gritted teeth.

"_Look_, you"

"SETO!" the shrill voice of a child called; it had broken the tense atmosphere of wills between the CEO and Kenzie. In fact, she was honestly now confused at what was going on, especially when a mass of black hair "WOOSH"ed by her and latched onto Kaiba's waist.

Kenzie blinked three times for good measure, bringing her finger up to scratch the side of her face before they spoke to clear her confusion.

Suddenly, the raven-haired boy let go of Kaiba quickly, folding his arms in fake contempt, and turned his back to him as he said, "You're late! You said you'd be here an hour ago!"

"Mokuba," he said in lidded, mild frustration. "I got held up at a client's office, I couldn't help it." Kaiba glanced past Kenzie and "Mokuba" as he said it.

Abruptly, the raven-haired boy caught Kenzie looking confused at the two of them, and dropped his fake-hurt act and bombarded her with attention. "Hey, you look familiar... Aren't you that American Duelist?"

Kenzie was caught off guard, feeling a slight heat to her cheeks as she answered hesitantly. "Who...me?" she pointed to yourself. "I _am_ an American Duelist...but I don't think we've met..."

He waved off Kenzie's confusion in a light-hearted manner as she kept his eyes on him. "Oh, sorry 'bout that. I'm Mokuba Kaiba, Seto's little brother." He extended his hand, and Kenzie took it, shaking it in understanding.

"I wasn't aware that Kaiba had a little brother," she told him in all honesty, but introduced herself just the same. "I'm Kenzie Ray."

"Wait," Kaiba interrupted in cold recognition. His eyes and tone almost seemed to jeer at Kenzie, making her suspicious of his gaze. "You're that two-bit hack that won the American Tournament by default, aren't you?"

…

Anger cascaded through Kenzie's body in tangible waves of her bloodstream as her teeth clenched in anger and frustration; that was Kenzie's weakness, having that god-awful reputation being rubbed in her face...and by someone she despised no less!

"By a series of unfortunate events, I _did_ manage to win the American Tournament by...de...fault," she gritted out of her clenched mouth, her eyebrow ticking at the sensitive nerve, and choking on getting the last bit out of her mouth.

Kenzie could almost feel Kaiba's smirk reach out to her and stroke her already bruised ego as he continued his berating.

"And _you_ had the audacity to tell _me_ to move!" he jeered in arrogance. "You're nothing more than the dirt off of my shoe!"

Kenzie felt her angry, ticking eyebrow get jerkier as she stood there and listened to his laughing, feeling her knuckles go white. She eventually just snapped, yelling back at him, "Those losers before me were cheating! It's not my fault!"

He wasn't fazed by Kenzie's outburst, and condescendingly folded his arms across his chest, as he mentioned coolly, "Well you can't be _that_ much of a duelist if even cheaters can beat you."

Trying to make her anger simmer, Kenzie thought of the best comeback, making her feel at sudden ease, "You don't have much room to talk when an international champ is beaten by a two-year player," she quipped hotly. "I'm sure Yugi Moto could see the devastation in that."

Kenzie grinned evilly when she saw Kaiba practically foam at the mouth from that comment.

"At least _I'm_ not a default duelist!" he landed back in a spiteful rage; she had obviously taken a sore spot...

...And apparently he had rubbed one on Kenzie. Feeling vengeful waves of anger course through her, Kenzie glared darkly at Kaiba, clenching the handle of her suitcase until she could _feel_ her knuckles burn.

But it dissipated quickly when Kenzie recognized that familiar warm buzz streak through her head and sinuses. She closed her eyes, pinching the outer most part of her nose to ward off the annoying pangs of painful throbbing.

"So have you found your hotel yet?" the cheery voice of Mokuba broke through Kenzie's brooding pain.

Kenzie blinked in confusion at him before answering, trying to ignore the unpleasant hum in her head. "Um, no."

Mokuba smiled. "Well maybe we could give you a ride?" he offered.

Before she could answer the question, Kaiba's contempt-filled tone cut through the air sharply.

"Maybe in a cab," he spat, glaring at Kenzie venomously, "because you're not getting in the same vehicle as me."

Kenzie felt her blood exponentially grow to a boil as soon as Kaiba's implied insult had reached her ears, but she quickly let go of it as soon as a sharp pain started to dig on the top left side of her head; like a hot metal pick being swung into her skull with a patterned throb to her painfully beating sinuses. Kenzie winced, almost going to grasp the top of her head when she held her hand still, trying to keep her senses.

"I wasn't planning to, _highness_," she tried to keep a hold of the fading venom in her voice, her glare most likely confused with that of biting pain. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going to find that hotel now..."

And with that Kenzie swung around contemptuously, her black hair mimicking the furious motion, and leaving the brothers in a bewildered state, and heading down the sidewalk, not really caring that she didn't know where she was going.

(supposed scene change/break)

"Se-_to_...!" Mokuba whined in desperation, stomping his foot to get his point across. "Kaiba Corporation invited Kenzie here! We can't just let her wander the streets!"

Kaiba only folded his arms in an unrelenting way. "Watch me," he said simply, like it would end the conversation.

Mokuba glared, throwing his hands up. "What if she's killed? How will that reflect on Kaiba Corp, Seto?" he argued tersely. Mokuba knew he wouldn't go after her for any other reason besides if it affected his company.

Kaiba flinched, but stayed glued to his spot on the sidewalk, not looking at Mokuba.

"Fine!" Mokuba fought in resolute frustration. "I'm going after her then!"

Mokuba had took off before Kaiba could stop him, and he shook his head in anger as he opened the limo door and got in.

(supposed scene change/break)

As Kenzie was failing to try and nurse the pain in her sinuses away by rubbing them with her forefingers, a raven-haired ball of delight had managed to get beside her.

"Wha...? Mokuba?" she momentarily forgot the pains in her head. "It's dangerous by yourself; you should be with your brother."

He gave a rueful smile, his eyes glinting in blame. "Well it's not safe for you either," he chided, putting his hands on his hips defiantly. "And that's why I'm here. Besides, you don't even know your way around!"

Kenzie gave a withering glare at nothing, turning her nose up and said, "Well I guess I hadn't really thought of that..."

"Don't let my brother get to you, Kenzie," Mokuba nudged light-heartedly. She eyed him suspiciously. "I know he can be a bit of a jerk sometimes"

She grunted.

"but he's okay once you get to know him," he finished with a wink.

"I'm sure...," Kenzie mumbled lowly to try and hide her disbelief; however, Mokuba was sharper than she had taken him for.

"Okay, okay," his voice waved off her brooding, like it was normal for him to do so. "So you don't like my brother! At least let us drive you to your hotel; we owe you that much."

Kenzie stopped in her place, turning to eye Mokuba in solemn seriousness. "As much as I like the fact that a world renowned corporation owes _me_ something, I have to decline."

Mokuba's jaw had dropped open, clearly taken by Kenzie's unpredictable answer. After all, this was _Kaiba Corp_! It wasn't some kiddy toy shop!

"Why not!" he queried in a disbelieving shriek. Kenzie had continued walking before he had answered.

It took a couple seconds for Mokuba to register that she had started walking again before he had sped up to Kenzie, coming in step by her side.

She sighed, knowing with a kid like Mokuba, his curiosity ALWAYS had to be filled.

"I really like you, Mokuba," she told him sincerely. "But honestly, I can't _stand_ your brother's attitude."

"C'mon!" he pleaded, jumping in front of Kenzie and making her stop dead on the sidewalk. "He's like that to everyone the first he meets them! You can't hold first impressions to be true!"

Kenzie looked away from Mokuba's pleading eyes thoughtfully. She admired this kid's tenacity and loyalty to his brother...even if the admiree was a jerk. And besides that, he had amazing persuasion skills for someone his age.

...And Kenzie _really_ would have accepted Mokuba's gracious offer, if a certain cold-hearted someone hadn't just pulled up and ruined her good mood.

The limo had stopped towards the end of the vehicle next to Kenzie and Mokuba, and the automatic window had ominously traveled downward with a "BZZZZ" sound, revealing none other than Seto Kaiba himself.

"Get in the limo," he glared at Kenzie, his voice rough in acknowledgement.

Just seeing his face again set off all the pains in Kenzie's head again; that hot white pick digging just underneath her scalp and her battering sinuses going off in a fever reaction. She closed your eyes and spun on her heel, noticing how the brightness of the day was making her headache worse...

"I'm sorry, Mokuba," Kenzie began in a lidded anger and a regretful tone as she began to take off heatedly down the sidewalk again, "but I'll still have to decline the offer."

Kenzie heard a foot stomp the ground in frustration, and she could bet it was Mokuba, also giving Kaiba a chastitizing withered glare at what he had done.

The more she held on to her anger of the CEO the more her head began to hurt and it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus on anything but her painful headache, which in turn, only made it worse. Kenzie's stomach began to churn in a forcefully unsettling way as she noticed that her face had begun a cold sweat...

_'Dammit...,'_ she cursed and gingerly put her left hand up to the left side of her head, trying to cushion the throb away. _'Why now? Stupid migraines...'_

Breaking Kenzie out of her stupor was the sound of scurrying feet, and suddenly Mokuba was back in-step with her again. Kenzie knew from his shoes; she wasn't going to open her eyes to let the daylight make her headache worse, but she had just barely opened them to recognize who it was.

He gave a moment before speaking, giving the air a thick, confusing, feel. "What's wrong, Kenzie? You look kinda pale..."

"It's nothing," she assured him quickly, but unusually soft...although the panging in her head seemed to intensify ironically when she had said it. "Just a headache."

Of course, Kenzie could feel Mokuba's disbelieving stare on her raised arm, resting on her head. She quickly let it fall, turning to him momentarily for an assuring smile.

He hadn't bought it.

Kenzie sighed and kept her pace, knowing inevitably that Mokuba would keep asking, and she was ready to answer him if need be...

"I said _get_ in the limo," an angry voice snapped.

Turning her head to the source of the voice she saw that Kaiba's head was keeping in-step to her pace by way of his limo.

"You're lucky I even reconsidered!" he reproached in a spiteful hiss.

Kenzie turned her face away from him to keep her vision diligently forward; it was her way of sticking her nose up at people.

"No," she said bluntly, noticing that she had momentarily forgotten her weakened state. A sickening wave of nausea ran through her whole body, making he feel slightly hot, and her headache just seem like all over white-hot sickles stabbing her brain. "I won't get into the same vehicle with someone I despise."

Kenzie heard growl a bit, satisfied that Kaiba was getting as angry as she felt at the moment, even though it did nothing to relieve her headache.

"Don't flatter yourself!" he bit out hotly. "The feeling's mutual!"

Spinning quickly to a stop and facing Kaiba, Kenzie's fists clenched unrelentingly to her blood flow, and she felt her eyebrows dip to a dangerously dark glare. She even _felt_ scary.

"Well then if you hate me so much," she began in a deceptively steady tone, teeth gritting painfully, and almost stopping when she thought she saw Kaiba flinch. "...get. _LOST_."

Kaiba gave Kenzie a withering glare, now turning his head forward, not backing down.

"Mokuba, get in the limo," he said evenly.

"But Se-_to_...!"

"_NOW_, Mokuba."

Kenzie heard Mokuba's suck his teeth in an "unfair!" tone, hesitating before going for the other side of the limo.

"It's obvious she doesn't want a ride," Kaiba informed in a steady tone, almost sounding condescendingly dark. "Not that I have a problem with it."

Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit Kenzie so hard she stumbled in her footing, even if she was only standing. It had washed through her body quickly, dulling her headache in an out-of-body way, and muffled her hearing.

Kenzie saw black dots popping out of holes in front of her eyes, making her feel dizzy and miss her equilibrium, until she could feel the faint feeling of falling over...

(supposed scene change/break)

END. (lol)


	2. The Hospital Visit

(A/n:) Same disclaimer-ish…-esque stuff applies. Be sure to review! It keeps people like me motivated, if you didn't know!

(supposed scene change/break)

**Points of Authority**

_The Hospital Visit_

(supposed scene change/break)

As Kenzie gradually awoke from darkness, she was assaulted by white, fluorescent lighting, making the backs of her eyes pang violently...

Her head lulled back and forth a few times; trying to make sure she had her bearings back before trying to sit up.

Slowly, Kenzie raised herself up, her arms ready to cushion her if she felt the need to fall back over. The action made her notice how sluggish she felt at the moment...

Her eyes took their own time to clear, with her headache feeling jealous that she had forgotten about it in her observations. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as before when she were on the street, but it still had this painful, warm throb...

Wait.

This didn't look like the street!

Kenzie realized she must have passed out…

A wave of shame washed through Kenzie's entire body, but she shook it off a little, looking around this new place.

She was actually in a sterile-white room

"Hey! You're awake!" a screeching voice violated her ears, breaking Kenzie out of her observations and making her headache spike.

Kenzie answered with a hiss, quickly bringing a hand back to her head to cushion the pain, almost curling the front of her body in defense.

"I'll go find one of the nurses!" the voice said in determination.

She suddenly heard a door open, almost too caught up in her headache to question very lowly aloud, "Nurses...? Then where"

But it seemed that Kenzie still wasn't alone in the room, and this "stranger's" voice had made her twirl around in a startled yelp.

"You're in the Domino Emergency Care Unit," it said coolly, yet Kenzie couldn't miss the degree of irritation that he was trying to keep down.

Sitting on a chair along the side of the sterile-white wall was Seto Kaiba, arms and legs crossed indignantly, and fixing his quite perturbed look at Kenzie. However, she was too confused to let his heated, icy eyes take effect on her.

Kenzie began looking around the room again, not really liking his blunt answer to where she was. It wasn't a very big room, and it gave her the feeling of a machine: quite un-home-y and mechanical. Maybe it was because everything in the room was that sterile-white. Even the cabinet and counter piece in front of her was white, including the bed she was sitting on. The only things that stood out was the horrible contrasting metallic silver of the faucet by the sink, and from what Kenzie could see of the bed frame, the empty gray chair next to Kaiba...

...And Kaiba himself.

Speaking of Kaiba, he was still drilling Kenzie with a glare, but he looked like he was trying to figure out what the hell she was looking around for.

Her head was still throbbing away, but now it was to a point where she could at least go and carry a conversation without being bothered...too much.

"So, uh...how did I"

"I brought you here," Kaiba said in a curt tone. That time, he seemed a lot angrier, and Kenzie really couldn't see why. After all, she had only passed out...

Of course, she could care less about why Kaiba was mad, because he was really starting to peeve her off with cutting off her questions like she was some worthless client of his.

"You could have left me on the sidewalk," Kenzie said quickly, crossing her arms and furrowing her brows downward at nothing, knowing she'd get too angry looking at him. "I would have been fine."

"Sure you would have," he said quickly and sarcastically, almost to the point where his condescension was seeping thickly into her body, making her want to spit in disgust; it was enough to make Kenzie scream back in retaliation. She was _definitely_ not in the mood for his mouth right now...

An ominous warm heat went through her head as she bit down her anger, and she knew she had to get out of the room for a little while so her migraine wouldn't comeback in full force. Letting out a stress-relieving sigh, Kenzie swallowed, just noticing how parched and dry her throat felt.

Cautiously, she slid off of the examination bed while keeping her hands steady on it, testing her equilibrium before going anywhere. She had a brief dizzy spell, but it was brief enough to let go, so she slowly made her way to the door to exit the room...

...Which just so happened to be right next to Kaiba.

But Kenzie didn't pay him any heed, even if she could feel his intense glare on her the whole way to the door. She was dieing to walk faster so she could get out the door and know for sure that his eyes were _off _of her, but she had a feeling that if she were to walk any faster that the dizzy spell might return...

Kenzie cursed her situation, but she continued at her ansy pace.

...And just as she reached the door, hand on the knob to open it up more, he decided to speak up.

"Where do you think you're going?" his tone was almost parental, and it confused Kenzie that much more. But then she realized, her confusion melting under the realization that Kaiba was just trying to cause her grief over getting a drink. A _drink_!

Kenzie's head shot around, giving him a half glare because she was quite tired as it was. "Why is it any concern of yours!" she shot back in exasperated anger.

Kaiba never shifted his position; in fact the only thing that had turned was his head when he asked where she was going. He was still in that arrogant, closed-off position, but his head and intense eyes had turned to face her.

"I don't know if you know this," Kaiba's face scrunched up disgust, his crossed limbs tightening in mild irritation. "But it's not the brightest thing to go prancing around after loosing consciousness."

Kenzie shut her eyes, trying to block out the rising frustration that Kaiba was causing her. She knew he was only trying to take whatever was bothering him out on her...and that just made her even angrier at him for it.

"I'm telling you, I'm _fine_!" she kept her eyes closed and made to go out the door, feeling slightly disgusted at Kaiba's child-like behavior. "Now, if you'll excuse me I'll be back in less than two minutes, _constable_!"

Without caring if he had something more to say, Kenzie flung the door to close quite loudly behind her, feeling slightly better that some of her irritation was out of her system. Kenzie gave a big sigh, releasing more of the pent of frustration in her system and looked up...

...Seeing about twelve different pairs of eyes on her.

She froze, feeling put on spot. She hesitated a bit before realizing why they were staring at her.

"Oh, um, sorry 'bout that...," Kenzie rubbed the back of her head a little bit, feeling too embarrassed to move in front of all those eyes as her cheeks slightly heated from it.

But as soon as Kenzie had apologized about the door all the nurses, patients, and doctors went back to what they were doing.

_'Damn that Kaiba! He doesn't even have to be here to make my life Hell!'_ she thought spitefully as her embarrassment delicately dissipated from the knot in her stomach.

Figuratively shaking off her Moment of Anger for Kaiba, Kenzie remembered why she had left the room in the first place; her parched throat. Her mouth had that annoying cotton-feel, like she'd never be able to drink enough to make the feeling go away. But carefully looking around the reception-area, she couldn't find a water fountain in sight anywhere.

Mentally cursing, Kenzie knew she'd have to try and go find one on her own. After her recent display of frustration, she'd feel too embarrassed to go ask someone, so she decided to just head off to her left as there weren't as many people down that corridor.

Through a stroke of very ironic-like luck, Kenzie actually managed to find a water fountain quite easily going through her choice of hallways. To the right of a vending machine on the left side of the wall was a pristinely placed water fountain. Not caring what the vending machine held at all, she homed in on the fountain. It was one of those twisty-knob ones that she were familiar with from her school in America.

Twisting the knob, she bent down a bit to the fountain (it came up to her waist) and took a couple of long gulps, feeling the cool water do magic over her throat. Taking a few more gulps, she felt that she had quenched whatever seemingly never-ending thirst...

Suddenly, Kenzie took notice of the cover for the fountain, an oddly placed white and blue swirled marble-y pattern...

A dizzy surge passed through Kenzie's system, making her vision swirl into a nice blend of colors, and she felt her hand brace the water fountain. The dizziness went a way quickly enough, but a white-warm sickle throb had settled in her head again, and it kept growing...

Scrunching her face in pain, a nervous heat had settled into every part of her body, making her perspire ever so slightly, but it added to how sick she was starting to feel...

Nausea had started to build up in the pit of Kenzie's stomach, and her head began to hurt her really, _really_ bad; it felt like her brain was being pinched by someone's nails as hard as they could, like they were angry at her for something...

Tears had built up at the back of Kenzie's eyes, more out of fear and confusion because it had never hurt this badly before. Another wave of nausea had hit her, and she had to go to her knees to try and reflexively stop the nausea.

She was holding her head in desperation, wanting to make that horrible pain go away...it felt like her brain was being eaten away by acid.

Why?

Why was it hurting this bad...?

"Kenzie!"

Kenzie suddenly felt like she had been broken out of some sort of trance and she noticed that her pain was gone...

"Kenzie!"

It had left her so stunned and speechless...thoughtless...

Kenzie began to stare at nothing, questions of why and how flitting through her mind at incomprehensible speeds.

"Kenzie!" The voice had finally gone to shaking Kenzie back to reality, earning him a very befuddled look from her.

It was Mokuba! He was clasping Kenzie's shoulders tightly, looking heatedly into her eyes with concern.

"Are you okay now?" he asked in desperation. "I saw you kneeling on the floor, and you looked like you were hurt..."

She was really kind of spooked from how abruptly her migraine had come and gone, and so she answered quite hesitantly, almost feeling foreign to herself.

"Yes...I'm okay...I think..."

"Well then let's get you back to the room," Mokuba had grabbed Kenzie's arm and helped her to stand the best he could. "I found the doctor and he said he'd be coming right away to check on you."

Kenzie didn't say anything as Mokuba helped her into a standing position, suddenly feeling weak at the knees with weight on them. Mokuba went to put her arm around his shoulders put she retracted it, saying with a bit of sincerity, "I'm fine, really. I can walk on my own."

As they both began to walk Kenzie noticed Mokuba silently pout out of her peripheral. She couldn't help but smile. He was such a sweetheart...so unlike his brother.

A thought suddenly ran through Kenzie's mind, _'I wonder...why Kaiba is such a jerk anyway?'_

It wasn't long before they had come to the door, but Kenzie stood in front of the door before Mokuba could get to the handle. He gave her an odd look, adding, "To get back in the room, ya know, I need to open the door..."

Kenzie sighed, nodding in affirmation of her actions. "Mokuba, can I ask you something?"

Mokuba's face scrunched up even more in bewilderment, his eyebrow shooting up as well. "Uh...sure?" he managed hesitantly in a "will I regret this" tone.

Kenzie sighed again, hoping the question wouldn't be too personal

But she was unable to ask it since she seemed to be passing through a hardwood door by some force that had attached itself to her shirt!

In a final swing around, she had come face to...well, chest until she looked up to see Kaiba fixating her with a dry glare.

"Three minutes. Fourty-two seconds."

It took a minute before Kenzie could register what he had told her in his deadpan tone.

"Wait, you actually _counted_!" she exclaimed incredulously, feeling her eyes go a little wide.

He grunted, making a shift in weight as he put a fist on his hip. "Well, with you fainting all the time it was hard for me not to conclude that you hadn't after almost four minutes by yourself."

Kenzie felt insulted! She hadn't "fainted"! Fainting was for weak damsels in distress! And she wasn't some pushover girl here!

"I didn't faint!" Kenzie pronounced with little dignity, feeling her eyes furrow in anger as her fists clenched in frustration.

"Really?" Kaiba raised an incriminatingly amused eyebrow at her reaction. "Then what do you call 'randomly loosing consciousness for a period of time' then? 'Resting your eyes'?"

Kenzie really didn't want to talk about this...really, loosing consciousness made her feel extremely vulnerable, and it was best to just leave it alone or she'd just get stressed out again.

"Just mind your own business," she said half-heartedly, closing her eyes and crossing her arms to get him to stop probing her.

"'Mind my own business'!" he snapped. Kenzie could feel tangible frustration reach her skin, her eyes shooting open in the attention he was demanding. "'Mind my _own_ business'! I _could_ have minded my own business if you hadn't shown up and fainted in front of me and _made_ yourself _my_ business!"

Kaiba had paused a minute, looking over how meek Kenzie had began to look over his spiteful comeback.

…But she instantly shot back into her "normal" demeanor.

"I told you, you could have just left me on the sidewalk you idiot!" Kenzie shot back, trying to sound forceful, but it was hard since she got the same feeling that he didn't like people fainting... "You didn't have to help me!"

He gave Kenzie a chilling glare, his tone the same deadly serious cold of winter that he seemed to carry, making her freeze a bit where she stood. "Get back on the examination table and stop _wasting_ my time!"

She hesitated, actually feeling chilled by his glare. Kenzie looked away quickly, but still furrowed her brows in anger. "I...I don't have to take this!" she announced resolutely. "I'm leaving!"

But just as Kenzie was about to go out the door, a man in his mid-forties appeared to be coming _in_ to the room, making her stay put. His hair was slightly tinged with silver here and there, giving it a nice highlighted look.

"Well, you must be Miss Kenzie Ray, I presume?" he stated rather distractedly, more interested on the "Kenzie Ray" in his files that he currently had in his hand as he shut the door with his free one.

Kenzie just stood there, glowering in accusation at the closed door, feeling her brow warm in anger...

She heard the file folder hit the counter, and the rustle the doctor was making through her papers as he stood there.

But Kenzie continued her glowering, wishing she was any place but here.

…With Kaiba.

Presently the most despised person on her hate list.

"Miss Ray, I'm going to need you to please sit on the examination table if I'm to properly see to you," Kenzie could almost feel the way his tone sneered in a seemingly omnipotent attitude towards her.

However, Kenzie begrudgingly turned toward the bed, first stopping to give Kaiba a death glare where he was sitting back with Mokuba in his chair, which he only smirked in delight at, and then made her way to the table.

In a poutful way, she made it on the bed, letting her feet dangle off of the edge. Kenzie could feel Kaiba's eyes on her...probably glinting in amusement that she had to stay now.

"So...," the doctor began as he turned around, gliding from the counter, but still keeping his deadpan tone. "You seem to have fainted on Mr. Kaiba here. Do we know what that was from?"

Kenzie cringed at his choice of "faint," but opened her mouth to reply anyway, "..."

"She complained of a headache before she," Kenzie had turned in confusion to Kaiba, and he eyed her with what he said next, "_fainted_ on me."

Kenzie felt a tick growing on her brow, feeling anger well in her chest in wall-breaking waves, glaring straight at Kaiba. "I told you! I _didn't_ 'faint'!"

"Now, now," the doctor came in, stopping the on-coming argument with a lacking vivacious tone. "There's nothing to be ashamed of for an insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain. It happens, especially when you're a migraine sufferer."

This...

This was ridiculous!

Glancing over at Kaiba, Kenzie saw him giving her a suspicious look, like he was trying to figure something out... His look was definitely confusing Kenzie; why was he looking at her like that?

She heard the doctor clear his throat, trying to get her attention toward him like he was expecting her to say something to his conclusion.

When he did it again, she hesitantly turned to face him, still highly bewildered by what Kaiba's look was meant to mean. "I...

"I already took my migraine medicine for today," Kenzie stated, turning to look at the doctor in front of her. "So they shouldn't even be coming up."

The doctor answered quickly, like he knew she was going to say something like that. "Well, the prescription you have is a low dosage; it's only prescribed for if you go through the same level of stress you usually go through on your day to day routine."

Kenzie brought a thoughtful hand to the side of her face, knowing Kaiba was intently listening to the conversation unfolding between her and the doctor. She could feel his eyes boring into her, wanting to know what it was all about. It was almost like he could sense that Kenzie was trying to keep something confidential...

"I don't understand," Kenzie said, sounding more factual than confused. "I'm actually away from all of my stresses, so shouldn't my headaches be easing?"

The doctor turned his side to her, then going back and picking up Kenzie's file, glanced over it while speaking up with, "Well I can see why you would think that, but you just drastically changed your surrounding environment," he said rather thoughtfully. "That in itself is a rather stressful change than what you're used to."

Kenzie would have pressed on, trying to tell the doctor that she didn't think that it was because of that, but she was already seeing some questioning stares from Kaiba out of the corner of her eye, and saying much else wouldn't keep it broad enough to her liking. Kaiba _definitely_ didn't need to know about her personal life if he was just berating her of her reputation now...

"Fine," Kenzie sighed in reluctance, folding her arms in mild contempt. "What do you want me to do? Rest for the rest of the day? I have no problem with that but I'm sure it's not as stressful as you're implying with me being here. In fact, I'm enjoying myself already."

Kenzie had said the latter in deadpan sarcasm; it was hard to miss her "amused" tone.

The doctor had expertly looked over Kenzie's mood, but still coming off as perturbed by it. "Yes, in fact, I _will_ prescribe bed rest for the remainder of the day," he picked up his pen, bringing out some pad from one of his large doctor coat pockets and scratching on it furiously. "And I'll also prescribe a stronger prescription for you for your time here."

Kenzie would have argued the need for stronger medicine, but she could tell he was quite annoyed with her attitude so far, and she was smart enough to not test this doctor anymore. However, she still gave a very reluctant sigh at his sentencing, hanging her head in defeat.

When the doctor was done he went over to Kenzie and handed the prescription paper over, then headed over to Kaiba with a "click" of his pen on a clipboard.

"I'll need you to sign here, Mr. Kaiba and she'll be free to leave," he said stoically while being followed by the hollow scratching from Kaiba's signature on the clipboard. Kenzie just stared down at her prescription the whole time...feeling like she had been treated like a child.

And with that the doctor left without so much as a "goodbye" or "have a nice day," keeping the door open and letting the busy sounds of the reception flood in...

Kenzie heard Kaiba's jacket rustle, letting her know that he was going out the door, and she followed Mokuba out slowly, not really knowing what to feel after that tirade. Kenzie hardly noticed that she had entered the elevator with Kaiba and Mokuba. She just stood there, watching the light at the door of the double doors, and concentrating on the "ding!" sound it was making as they reached the bottom floor.

Breaking the silence was the timid but strong voice of Mokuba...his curiosity getting the best of him again.

"So...how'd you start getting migraines, Kenzie?"

She gave a wistful sigh, smiling slightly at Mokuba's question, but then it faded into a stoic mask; the usual one she used when people asked that question. "Don't worry about it, Mokuba," she said, never taking her eyes off of the elevator light. "It just kind of...happened, really."

Kenzie noticed how oddly quiet Kaiba was being throughout the whole thing; in fact it was kind of creepy that he was being this quiet since the doctor mentioned her "stresses" and "migraines".

But she weren't going to break the silence no matter how awkward it felt...she was actually reveling in the fact that she could actually stand in Kaiba's presence without some sort of battle of egos.

The elevator made a final "ding" and Kenzie made the move to follow Kaiba and Mokuba out of the elevator as the doors opened with a mechanical "whoosh" into the lobby. She didn't pay attention to any of the busy sounds as she finally made her way outside, where Kaiba's limo was waiting for them in the visitor pick up area.

"Well...I guess I'll get my things and be out of your way...," Kenzie mentioned in a defeated tone as she reached the limo with the two brothers.

Kaiba had swung around to face her, catching Kenzie a little off guard by the sudden movement.

"What are you talking about?" he grounded out in contempt. He was looking at her like she was stupid. His voice was too.

However, Kenzie stood her ground, speaking with more purpose this time. "You've been upset with me this whole visit, right?" she began in a very matter-of-fact tone. "So, I'll just get my things and"

"Look," Kaiba began rather tersely, glaring at Kenzie like she was stupid. "_I'm_ not going to be held accountable for if you 'faint' again, so why don't you just shut up and get in?"

She closed her eyes momentarily, trying to ward off the frustration that came with his conclusive remarks. "I _told_ you... I didn't"

"Faint," he finished for Kenzie in berating amusement, now holding open the door for her to get in. "I know what you said, now could you _stop_ playing your tough act and get in the limo like a 'good girl'?"

Kenzie's anger went into a shy boil-over after that comment, dark shades being pulled onto her face. "Stop treating me like a child!" Kenzie stomped her foot for good measure, glaring at Kaiba with as much intensity as her stomp.

"Then stop acting like one," he said simply, but with enough acid to poke at her insides.

"Ha! You're one to talk! You wouldn't even apologize for accidentally hitting me," she exclaimed incredulously, but with certain calmness. "_If_ you even did it on accident..."

Kaiba sighed in irate frustration, feeling more than put-off by her "incompetence."

"Just get in the limo," he spat heatedly, glaring at Kenzie even more intently because she was starting to make a scene.

Knowing that she had the advantage now, Kenzie shifted her center of mass to one side, folding her arms neatly in "victory."

"Why should I? You've been nothing but a jerk to me. I mean, you're hardly gentlemanly-type material."

"_Look_, you"

"Hey, Kenzie!" Mokuba expertly butted-in, knowing that it was the prefect time to switch the subject. "Can I see your dueling deck? You can show me on the way to the hotel! I bet it's awesome!"

"Mokuba"

"Well, sure you can!" Kenzie said in delight, making her way past Kaiba's towering form as she went to sit next to his kid brother.

Kenzie was faintly aware of Kaiba's heated glare as he followed in after her and closed the door, the limo taking off promptly after the "bam" of the limo door.

(supposed scene change/break)


	3. Once a Jerk, ALWAYS a Jerk

(A/n:) Meh…ditto from the previous chappie, and be sure to review! It's almost as good as chocolate!

(supposed scene change/break)

**Points of Authority**

_Once a Jerk,_ ALWAYS _a Jerk..._

(supposed scene change/break)

Without much thought Kenzie had brought out her dueling deck from her purse and handed it to Mokuba. He was sitting right next to her in excitement, which Kenzie couldn't help but smile at his rattling mouth.

Of course, Kenzie heard the occasional grunt from Kaiba, but whenever she looked up he was always looking out of the window he was next to. She was sitting adjacent to his part of the limo; Kaiba was parallel to the driver's seat and Kenzie was in the "side seat" of the limo.

It was a really nice limo, too. Mokuba had to actually shake Kenzie back to reality when all she was doing was looking around, her eyes gulping in the richness of the vehicle.

Black leather seats, a _very_ nice, black velour finished carpet...she almost felt bad for even having her old tennis shoes on the floor...

...But then you remembered this was _Seto Kaiba's_ limo.

That thought had left Kenzie rather quickly though, considering that she had spotted a hugely furnished CHERRYWOOD mini-bar table...thing right in front of her.

But something struck Kenzie as odd.

Weren't most business men into having a television in their limo? Of course, they never watched it; it was just for show.

Before speaking, though, Kenzie crossed her legs and arms, to show Kaiba that she wasn't opening up to him...as Kaiba was to her.

"So...," Kenzie began for dramatic effect, wanting Kaiba's curiosity to pull him to her instead of spite or hate or anger; it had worked. He turned to look at Kenzie with a blank expression, his body still turned toward the window in a twisted fashion.

"...Where's the 40-inch plasma thin screen?" she asked quite plainly.

Kaiba wasn't put-off by Kenzie's blunt tone (most people were a little intimidated at the seriousness of it), in fact, she saw his jaw jerk into a bit of a irritation.

"I don't have time for television," he stated in a curt tone, glaring at Kenzie for a brief moment before turning back to his window.

Kenzie recoiled from his biting frustration in a bit of a quirky pout with her fixating her eyes else where. _'He's such a stiff,'_ she mused. _'Then again, I wasn't really expecting him to go into some long, drawn-out speech about where his showy t.v. is, anyway...'_

Suddenly broken out of her thoughts, Kenzie heard Mokuba shriek...in glee? Or was that surprise?

"Wow! You've got one of those spirit-type monster cards!" he remarked, looking at her card in majesty. "And it's Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi! That one's really hard to get!"

For some reason, Kenzie suddenly felt a little embarrassed by all of Mokuba's remarks, like it was an implied compliment of sorts.

Of course, Kenzie's flattered state had been shattered when Kaiba choose to speak up.

"Heh," he grunted in mock-amusement. "Don't tell me you have one of those lame spirit-creature decks, because I've stomped out everyone and anyone who's come across me with one."

A deadly serious resolve had overcome Kenzie; she didn't take kindly to people insulting her deck. The strategy and thought she had put into making it...

It just made her blood boil when someone tried to make fun of it.

"No, Kaiba; it isn't," Kenzie said to him lowly, trying to keep her anger in check. It was no use to take out her frustration on Kaiba no matter how much of a jerk he was. He didn't know how much she prized her deck and just being able to duel.

No, Kaiba was ignorant to Kenzie's situation. He didn't deserve her wrath...

...Yet.

Mokuba continued to name off cards off-handedly, as if to try and impress his big brother for Kenzie by doing so. She could really care less, as she was trying to find out why the prescription name was giving her an unpleasant feeling in her stomach.

Kenzie sat back, letting the leather seat cushion her back as she stared blankly at the messy, scribbled prescription the doctor had given her. Mokuba was still rattling off names of cards beside her, and she was trying to block out Kaiba's condescending grunts.

Kenzie was trying to remember where she had heard the name of the prescription again? "Dilaxicon"…?

Kenzie remembered reading about it in one of those brochures in her doctor's office back home…

…And _that's_ when she remembered the co-pay for the drug ranged about 300-400 dollars, depending on the pharmacy – and that was only for a couple days worth of pills!

Shifting restlessly in her seat from her "new-found" information, Kenzie sighed irritably but softly enough to not raise any questions; there was no way she was going to waste her money on some silly drug and forsake her vacation! She had _earned_ this vacation, and she knew if she deserved anything in her life, it was _this_!

But before Kenzie could continue her sulking, Kaiba's voice broke through her thoughts.

"What's wrong with you?" he queried in a most disinterested and maybe even bothered manner. "You keep mumbling."

Looking up, Kenzie was more taken by the abrupt loss of her thoughts than Kaiba's bored tone.

Or his constantly glaring eyes…that seemed to demand the world from her.

Kenzie stared at him blankly for a few moments before shoving the prescription back into her purse. "It's nothing," she replied dismissively, finding more interest in the cherry wood mini-bar across from you.

"'House of Adhesive Tape'…?" Mokuba queried aloud, catching the attention of Kenzie and Kaiba. Mokuba's eyebrow had risen as he looked to his brother, scratching his cheek thoughtfully in confusion. "I've never heard of that one before…"

"That's because it's not worth mentioning," Kaiba snapped quickly, turning to Kenzie in a heated, icy glare. "And it just goes to show how much of an amateur you are for carrying such trash in your deck."

Kenzie barely got angry; already knowing this would be the norm with Kaiba from now on. It still kindled a small flame of anger from his rude comment, but she wasn't just going to blow up over something that he did all the time; it would make her look bad.

But she still humored him nonetheless.

"Kaiba, I'd appreciate it if you stopped making assumptions about my deck," Kenzie warned him in a plain tone, glancing out the tinted window in front of her as she did. "You don't even know the first thing about my deck."

Kaiba gave a derisive grunt, mostly likely more taken by Kenzie's lack of anger from the previous comment. "I don't _need_ to when I already _know_ it wouldn't stand a chance against my deck."

Kenzie folded her arms resolutely, knowing that she could one-up the CEO. "Chyeah, like you know what strategy is."

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean!" he spat quickly, practically daring her to continue. However, Kenzie was unfazed. She knew the power of her deck.

Kenzie smirked, giving him that "knowing" look of superiority. "It means, _Kaiba_, that you obviously don't know what strategy is if you haven't bothered to research my deck." She slid in a disbelieving glance. "I mean, really, what kind of strategy is beating people senseless? There's no merit in that simplistic gall."

Kaiba gave Kenzie a "once-over," like he couldn't believe she had just said something like that to him.

Then his face darkened.

…To the point where Kenzie actually felt a little uneasy.

"Look you disgusting simpleton," he began in a deadly-low heat. "The mere fact that _you_ don't understand the power and strategy of my deck shows how little you know of being a _true_ duelist," his face played in a sickening smirk, eyes glinting, "Or really, the lack thereof."

Kenzie's mouth immediately snapped open, insults and argument ready to fly. "What! You don't even kno-"

"And don't _tell_ me I don't know what I'm talking about," Kaiba had raised his voice to cut her off, "because I know _exactly_ what I'm talking about.

"Besides," he paused for malicious, dramatic effect, reveling in the fact that he _knew_ that his words would find their way underneath Kenzie's skin. "How can a Default Duelist – someone who can't even be considered a duelist, except by default – tell me what's wrong with _my_ deck?

"You're out of your league if you think you can tell _me_ what to do," he finished coolly, eyeing Kenzie with a look like he knew he had won the argument.

It was hard for someone's eyebrow to twitch when their brow was already dipped in a deep glare…but somehow, Kenzie had accomplished that; it was quite visible, she knew, because Kaiba's smirk was getting wider.

Kaiba's words had struck her deep; Kenzie's pride had actually taken a hit, but she continued to stay calm. "Kaiba, if you really think my deck is as worthless as you claim, then I want you to prove it to me."

He answered with a "yeah right" snort.

"I don't need to prove anything since you're nothing more than a Default Duelist," he answered in that mockingly plain tone of his, gesturing arrogantly with his crossed arms and puffed chest. "It's already been established that your deck is worthless. You were beaten in the American Tournament by third-rate duelists; the fact that they were cheating is irrelevant because they were _third-rate_.

"You're not even a real duelist; you're nothing. I don't even have to acknowledge that you exist," Kaiba finished, leering in delight.

Kenzie was calm; she was so angry that she was numb of the fever-rage that was sweeping through her body. Kaiba had hit home in so many ways that he couldn't even understand…

The whole right side of Kenzie's face jerked…once.

But she was NOT going to blow up; doing so would acknowledge that Kaiba had found a way to dig under her skin.

No. She wasn't.

Because that would mean that he won.

Kenzie noted how oddly quiet Mokuba had been during the intense "dialogue." However, she felt more than a little put-off by Kaiba, so she held her hand out abruptly, startling the youngster from the gesture, demanding her deck back.

Taking the deck from the hesitant hand of Mokuba quickly – if not rudely – Kenzie went to fish for the deck box in her purse.

"So, you have nothing to say?" Kaiba jeered arrogantly from his seat. Kenzie was trying to pay more attention to the hidden deck box in her purse.

"Well, I can't blame you. After all, I did tell you the truth; it must be _hard_ to come to terms with it after you've blinded yourself by lies."

Kenzie stopped short of getting her deck into the box, fitfully slamming it into her lap as she heated glared at the CEO.

"The only reason _why_ I'm not saying anything to you is because I just realized how fanciful and delusional the world inside your head _really_ is," she commented in acidic resolution. "In fact, I can't even tell if your brain is located in that _gigantically_ swollen head of yours or your own ass."

His brows narrowed swiftly, his face cringing in insult; Kenzie knew she had finally gotten to him. _Ha_! Now _she_ had won!

Kaiba pressed some button on his arm rest and the limo came to a violent stop, making inertia play on everyone's body.

"Get out of my limo," he told her in curt anger. "You can _walk_ the rest of the way."

Grabbing her purse and heading for the door in front of him, Kenzie paused and turned to him, giving a disturbingly sweet smile, "With pleasure, _Seto_," and then stepped out, leaving the CEO to shut his own door.

Kenzie's back was turned to Kaiba and the open door, a smile of sweet satisfaction on her face from the cringe he gave her when she used his first name so familiarly.

"Next time, why don't you be a good girl and faint on someone who _actually_ has time to put up with it!" he bit out hotly, slamming the door in a "WHOOSH".

Spinning on her heel heatedly, Kenzie glared at Kaiba…well, the door with an icy rage, anger swelling to her cheeks as she barely kept from lashing out at the air. Trying to keep control, Kenzie could only watch as Kaiba's limo skidded away from her.

Breathing in deeply, Kenzie let go of her frustration from Kaiba's earlier comment. He wasn't here so there was no need for her to keep a hol-

BAM

"DAMmit!" Some brazen "innocent" had run into the back of Kenzie, almost knocking her over! "Watch where you're _going_!"

A hesitant, almost cowardly voice responded to Kenzie's snappy attitude, making her feel like a true heel.

"I-I'm really sorry," Kenzie cringed, wanting to kick herself. "I d-didn't meant to-"

"No, _I'm_ sorry," Kenzie cut him off, disheartened. "It was my fault and I shouldn't be taking m-…"

Suddenly, she noticed the boy's wildly colored, star-shaped hair and his short stature.

"Wait… You're Yugi Moto, aren't you?"

He gave a confused look, bringing a thoughtful finger to his cheek. "Well yeah…"

In a flash, Kenzie had grabbed up his hand, shaking it with subtle enthusiasm. "Wow, I can't believe this. You beat Seto Kaiba, right? You're officially my hero."

Yugi smiled shyly, as Kenzie took notice of the blonde-haired, brown-eyed boy next to him. He was pointing to himself in desperation.

"An' ya know who I am, right?" he almost pleaded.

Kenzie turned fully towards him, smiling softly. "Joey Wheeler, right; placed second at Duelist Kingdom. Loved your plays against Bandit Keith; I really don't like that guy."

Joey punched the air with his fist, clearly excited about something she had obviously missed. "YEA! I'm famous, I'm famous, I'm famous…," and he proceeded to dance around, jabbing the air with his fingers.

Too focused on Joey's odd dance and eccentric mumblings, Kenzie almost missed Yugi talking to her.

"You're the American Duelist, right? Kenzie Ray?"

But she didn't hear any of that. In fact, she was more concerned with how Yugi only came up to her collarbone.

"You're smaller in person," Kenzie mumbled to herself, but had obviously reached Yugi's ears since his cheeks colored. "I could've sworn that your profile said you were five-foot-five; you'd be at least an inch taller than me..."

Yugi searched around, trying to find a way from Kenzie's suspicious eyes, letting an uncomfortable "Uhh..." pass his lips.

Joey suddenly stopped his antics and began to circle _you_ like an interrogator.

"'Ey, wait a sec... Yer dat American Duelist! Oh man!" Joey began to gesticulate wildly with his hands...

"I loved dat awesome play you did against dat d'fense dude in da semi-finals!" he exclaimed. "Ya know, dat one where ya flip-summoned dat sphinx cawd an' cleaned his field of all dem set-d'fense cawds an' went straight in fer da kill!"

Kenzie gave a small smile, bringing a sheepish hand to the back of her head; she wasn't exactly used to praise. "Well, it had to be done," Kenzie told him simply.

"Wow," Yugi exclaimed softly, gaining the attention of Kenzie and Joey. "I think you're the first modest duelist I've met," he finished, giving Kenzie a small smile.

It happened too fast for Kenzie to see, but somehow Joey had gotten Yugi into a shy headlock with one arm, pointing at him with his opposite hand, giving Yugi an ominous look.

"'Ey. You tryin' t' say I ain't modest, Yug'?"

Yugi looked a little edgy of his friend. "No! That's not what I meant! You don't really count because you got into Duel Monsters _with_ me-"

Yugi's body fell to the ground as Kenzie tried to connect what was going on, Joey striking a defiant pose of his hands on his hips.

"_Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaat's_ what I tought," Joey sneered slyly. "B'cause we all know th' Great Joey Wheeler, Runner-up at Duelist Kingdom d'serves, t' boast a li'l bit more! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-"

"Go choke on a bone, _Wheeler_."

Kenzie's spine went rigid. There was only one person that could practically spit out a person's name in disgust like that... But she _refused_ to believe that he was standing right behind her...

She had gone so rigid, in fact, that she was unable to move and process information in her brain for at least three, full seconds; she couldn't even process Joey's loud flying insults at a certain someone...

And even if Kenzie _knew_ that one person stood behind her, there was only one way to find out if her suspicions were correct...

Kenzie's eye began to twitch at the heavy amount of foreboding perception that weighed on her stomach. Slowly turning around, Joey's mouth slightly mulled her dulled senses...

...And then she spotted him, contemptuous eyes staring her down, his bangs giving his look a more ominous feel, and an angrily flared coat that seemed to mock Kenzie's very being instead of actually being considered a fashion "faux pas."

Kenzie's stomach had dropped like lead to her knees, leaving the rest of her legs to feel weightless under the fever-anger suddenly surging through her body. The muscles in Kenzie's face lost all contraction as she spoke steadily, acidic-ly, "Is it _too_ much to ask for you to _stay out of my life_ for more than _ten_ minutes!"

Kaiba stoically closed his eyes. "Don't try to blame your selective memory on me," he said evenly, opening his eyes to glare evenly at Kenzie. He extended his occupied arm filled with _her_ suitcase, but was holding it like it was something he had just pulled out of the fridge that was two weeks past it's expiration date. "I only came back to give _this_ back, because I _won't_ be held responsible for it."

Kenzie answered him with a suspicious eyebrow in return for his impatient glare. Again, there was an odd, stand-off-ish silence.

After a while, Kenzie spoke, feeling secure that Kaiba hadn't trapped-up her suitcase she had the ones with the lock.

"Hmph," Kenzie took the suitcase back with as much attitude as she could, letting him know she was none-too grateful for his appearance...even if he did bring back her suitcase. "Would it kill you to be a bit nicer?"

This, of course, earned Kenzie a glare from Seto Kaiba...

...And that ever-infuriating trademark smirk she loved so much.

"Don't think I did this because I was concerned about your luggage," he warned, his hand on his hip and making him look so snobbily aristocratic that she wanted to slap him. "I just didn't want your ugly suitcase in my limo to remind me that I even _let_ the Default Duelist in the same vehicle, let alone a fifty-mile radius as me."

There it was; that very familiar surge of heat through her blood stream that Kenzie was becoming found of...

"I _told_ you-"

"Huh? How come you were in Kaiba's limo?"

Kenzie had been cut off by a _very_ bewildered Joey, and an equally confused Yugi. But before either Kenzie or Kaiba could answer, Joey's eyes brightened slightly.

"Oh, I get it! Dat's jus' sick, Kaiba!"

Joey received several odd looks.

"_What_ are you talking about, mutt?" Kaiba demanded in irritation.

Joey smirked. "Don't tell me ya started abductin' girls off th' street jus' b'cause yer too much of a jerk t' get one by bein' yerself; dat's really low, Kaiba. Even fer you."

Kenzie and Yugi fell over. Kaiba seemed to prepare for blowing a head gasket. Then Kenzie realized what Joey had said, and shot back up.

"Hey! What the _hell_ are you trying to insinuate!"

"I swear...," Kaiba spat in lidded frustration. "_Wheeler_, if your brain was any smaller, I'd be insulting dogs by calling you one."

"WHAT! DAT'S IT! KAIBA, IT'S YOU AN' ME: RIGHT NOW!"

Joey flashed into a running-jump, his one fist poised into making pre-eminent contact with Kaiba's face.

"Joey, no!" Yugi feebly attempted to stop him.

But Joey kept on, and he was getting closer and closer to Kaiba...

Then, just as Joey launched his fist, mere inches away from Kaiba, the CEO somehow grabbed Joey's fist, stepping to the side, wound his arm around swiftly and led Joey to take an ungraceful flip to the ground.

Cement ground.

…On his back.

Yugi was at his friend's side in an instant, trying to help up the winded blonde. "You okay, Joey?"

"Yeah, you okay?" Kenzie asked, a bit concerned, but keeping her distance.

"Yea, I'm okay," Joey mumbled indignantly, Yugi helping him to stand, but with Joey shaking it off. "No thanks t' dat jerk..."

Kenzie made eye contact with Kaiba, immediately glaring at him in blame. "You didn't have to do that, Kaiba."

Kaiba's glare deepened in response, insulted that she would think otherwise. "Of course, I did. That stupid mutt _needs_ to be taught a lesson, but I've been going a little easy on him lately. Hopefully the cement knocked some sense into that empty head of his."

Knowing that fighting with Kaiba would get Kenzie nowhere on this subject, she settled for a bland look, like what he said had left a bad taste in _her_ mouth, deciding to go see for herself if Joey really was all right; the smack his back made with the cement made her feel a little sick, truth be told.

"Well," Kaiba started out in mocking jeer. "It looks like I can't keep a washed up mutt from finding friends in _low places_."

That was _it_! She was so tired of Kaiba making snide remarks!

With a steadfast resolve, Kenzie flashed right in front of Kaiba, her eyes glinting in dead determination. "Why don't you just _go_ away! You obviously don't like anyone else, and they don't like you, so why don't you just save us _all_ the trouble and just _not_ show your face in public!"

Kaiba sneered disgustedly. "And obviously you don't retain information that well, otherwise you'd remember that you're a 'nobody' and can't _tell_ me to do anything, you stupid Default Duelist."

A hiss of extreme heat rushed through Kenzie's body, and she took a small breath to calm herself.

"I, _am not_ a 'nobody', Kaiba," she said steadily, arms crossed defiantly with her eyes attempting to pierce the CEO's. "And _you_ would be well to know that _you_ are actually the 'nobody' since the only person who can accept you is Mokuba."

Kaiba took a moment before letting his eyes narrow dangerously. "Mokuba is the _only_ person I _need_ to accept me."

He glared at Kenzie like she was the most disgusting creature on earth before he decided to walk back to his limo. In a dramatic whip of his flared, white jacket he had left Kenzie to fume, Yugi and Joey looking on in awe. As the limo ominously sped off, there wasn't a sound uttered from the aforementioned boys that she had recently met. Instead, Kenzie continued walking down the street toward the direction of the hotel, silently feeling a little bad for saying such a terse thing to Kaiba.

(supposed scene change/break)


	4. Graceful Charity

(A/n:) Ppl out to get ppl who have no money: See disclaimer on chapter 1 or on the bio page. Ppl here to read: have fun, review or die in a tornado fire.

(supposed scene change/break)

**Points of Authority**

_Chapter 4: Graceful Charity_

(supposed scene change/break)

Kenzie's head had started a light, warm, buzz as she walked into the entrance of the hotel...

Definitely from her recent dialogue with Kaiba.

And she had this ominously heavy bubble in her chest... There was no way she could have been feeling guilty; Kaiba wasn't worth it.

Casting aside those awful waves of anger, Kenzie was suddenly overwhelmed by the lush environment of the horridly-named hotel. She got to noticing the plush, garnet curtains and wall-throws before she realized that there was a good reason _why_ she was here.

Pulling up to a free receptionist at the rather long desk that traveled the length of the hotel lobby, Kenzie put her suitcase down beside her as she distractedly asked herself, "is THAT cherry wood too!"

"May I help you?"

His sugary undertones almost made Kenzie cringe, well, gag more like, but she bit it back in hesitant smile and kept her approach: semi-cheery.

"Yes," she started as politely as her headache would allow. "I'm Kenzie Ray, and I was invited by Kaiba Corporation for the Battle City Tournament. I was supposed to have a room here."

If possible, the man's smile grew even wider, making Kenzie's eyebrow rise in an odd feeling of disturbance towards the middle-aged receptionist.

"Oh, yes. I remember that going around," he told Kenzie in subdued enthusiasm. "Let me just check your room number here..." He had begun clicking away at his computer, looking to be very much into what he was doing. He began to go over the line of "taking a while," but just as she decided to take in more of the hotel interior, he rudely interrupted her thoughts.

"Ah, yes!" he announced with a spirited finger. "Here it... Is...?"

His face contorted strangely as his voice trailed off. She didn't dare ask what was wrong, but she could tell her own face was scrunching into bewilderment. Just what the hell was he getting at?

The receptionist gave Kenzie an apologetic look as her stomach reacted in ominous pitfall.

"I'm very sorry miss, but we happened to be booked."

Kenzie felt her whole body momentarily shut down. Except for the empty blinking her eyes were performing.

"Um, I'm sorry," she began in civility, putting a rehearsed finger to her cheek; she was trying to stay to a role as to not get angry. Kenzie was already mad enough already. "Could you...repeat that last part?"

He gave an uncomfortable gulp, fingering his collar like he was hot, and fidgeting in his seat as he began to explain. "Well, it seems that the Prime Minister was to rent out your suite before you were to arrive, but last week he decided to stay for much longer..."

Resolve coursed through Kenzie, feeling like the receptionist had taken her for dumb. "So you can't tell him to _leave_…?" she suggested, exasperated.

He raised defensive hands in front of his person, trying to calm Kenzie's raising voice with dismissive hands.

"I'm very sorry, miss," he began in urgency, fingering his collar again. "But it's the _Prime Minister_ of Japan! We can't just tell him to leave!"

Bits of anger were seeping into Kenzie's skin from the overload coursing through her veins, her voice on the verge between loud and screaming. This was just not her life apparently; how could it be? First Seto Kaiba, and now the hotel seemed to be against Kenzie as well. Then, a thought struck her: maybe, just maybe Seto Kaiba had set this up since he didn't particularly take a liking to her.

"And just WHY not! He's just like any other valued customer; I deserve the same expectations he's getting!" Kenzie argued. "Don't you know that EVERY customer should be valued? Or did they not teach you that in your business orientation! Even common cashiers know _that_…"

He answered with an uneasy gulp, and a nervous finger fidgeting with his collar again.

Kenzie "laid" her hands on the desk with a mildly resonated "smack," startling the receptionist. "Well…_answer_ me!"

By this time Kenzie had been steadily leaning more and more over the reception desk, making the receptionist lean back in defense from her intense tone, looking a little meeker than what he should have in that clean-cut suit of his.

"But I'm just a receptionist," he replied weakly, wishing that Kenzie would let up from the discerning look she was glaring at him with. "I can't fix any of this; I just enforce what they tell me to do…"

Rolling her eyes dramatically and not believing he gave her such a spineless answer to defend himself with, Kenzie stormed out of the area, blindly making her way through the lobby…

…And of course she ran into someone that intersected her path as soon as she came out of the elitist hotel. Her pathetically mumbled "sorry" was cut short when she saw the flashy bandana that made her almost regurgitate her sad, airplane breakfast from earlier that morning.

"_You_…," Kenzie said in so much contemptible distaste that she could feel it materialize on her tongue as her eyebrows were drug down into glare.

His black ray bans contrasted starkly against his blonde hair kept back by the American-flag bandana he wore. In gingered arrogance, he pulled down his glasses to the tip of his nose and gave Kenzie a mocking look. "Well, if it isn't the Default Duelist," he jeered. "Tell me, how does it go in the pits at the top?"

Kenzie's nose wrinkled, starting to brush past the fellow American duelist in a huff. "Keith, don't even start with me."

But before she could exit, Bandit Keith had grabbed her upper arm, halting her attempts at escape. "Oh ho…?" he continued in his mock as she disgustedly pulled her arm away from his grasp. "Still a little sore I see."

"And I have _every_ good reason TO be you no-good bastard," she spat back in ferocity. "You ruined my reputation! I hope you drop dead!"

Keith lifted his sunglasses to rest upon his head, leaning into the side of the building casually as Kenzie continued to seethe at him. His eyes glanced at her with a playful glint. "That's a little harsh, don't you think Kenzie? I mean, after all, how could you want _me_ dead?"

Kenzie smirked, crossing her arms defiantly in solemnity, but a giant stress mark was quite present. "Do you want it alphabetically; because I've been working on it."

Keith lifted himself off of the building, smirk still present as he had serious resolve about him. "Tell you what, since you're still so sore about being incapable of beating me, I'll give you another shot."

"It wasn't even about _that_!" Kenzie spat heatedly, but then recovering afterwards, huffing a sigh. "Fine, but you can't cheat!"

"Okay then; it'll be an all-out battle, just to make sure that we know who the better duelist is," he stated. "You're lucky I'm such a nice guy."

"Pfft," she managed to say out loud in spite of her rage.

(supposed scene change/break)

Bandit Keith had managed to grab one of the cherry wood desks in the reception of the hotel and two plush-wooden chairs, much to the dismay and protest of the employers. However, you definitely weren't going to ask about what primitive tactics he used to make the employers to agree.

In any case, a fairly large group of people had already gathered at the "commotion" Kenzie and Keith had stirred up. They were both seated in the chairs, shuffling their respective decks when Keith spoke up…again.

"Ya know," he jeered, momentarily showing his eyes. "It's going to be a shame when all these people see how I'm going to beat you."

Kenzie gave a discerning look of disgust as an answer. "Keith, with all these people here there's _no way_ your 'slips of hand' are going to go unnoticed like they did at the tournament," she said in grave anger. "I'm going to rip you apart."

Keith laughed as the both of them cut each others' deck. "Just for that comment, I'll go first."

The duel had been set up according to some revised rules that Kaiba was going to use in his new tournament, but with a whopping 8000 Life Points each. It was definitely going to be interesting at least.

Kenzie huffed lightly. "It won't matter who goes first so just hurry up already."

He eyed his cards swiftly, and then kept a steady gaze on Kenzie as he put two cards facedown. "I think these will serve my purpose for right now."

Rolling her eyes, she finally gave a good look at her hand as she drew her card: Gravekeeper's Servant (magic, cont), Witch of the Black Forest (effect monster), Bistro Butcher (effect monster), Torrential Tribute (trap), Spirit Reaper (effect monster), and she had drawn another Gravekeeper's Servant.

'_Hmmm…I think I'll keep my Gravekeeper's Servants for later…when he thinks he's going to win,'_ Kenzie thought to herself as she eyed her cards in calculation.

Flitting a card up from her hand, Kenzie put it down on the glossy surface of the pilfered table. "I'll just set this monster card for now."

Keith's eyebrow rose incredulously. "Defending so early? You know this is how you started out the last time you went up against me…and you ended up losing," he ranted, gesticulating arrogantly. Kenzie gave him a dirty look. "But if you're gonna do it, I guess I won't question it." Dramatically, he began his turn, just about slamming a monster card down. "I summon Overdrive (monster) in attack mode, and attack your face down card!"

Kenzie smirked as she flipped it over. "Oh…looks like you put my Witch of the Black Forest in the graveyard. You know what that means…"

Keith looked pretty pompous for what he had just sent to Kenzie's graveyard. He really had no idea what he was getting himself into.

Sifting through her deck, she grabbed a monster card and flipped it quickly so that Keith could see what you got. "I choose to take my Jinzo from my deck."

Kenzie saw Keith's mouth twitch. "Since when did you have a Jinzo? You're not good enough a duelist to have a card like that!"

Kenzie made sure her face remained stoic as she answered, shuffling her deck from her Witch of the Black Forest's effect. "Remember? You cheated me out of my duel through slips of your hand, so I didn't stay long enough for you to even see my deck," Kenzie informed, putting her deck back in place on the table, letting a slight glint of her eye penetrate Keith's ray bans. "So, Keith, it looks like you're at quite the disadvantage since I've done a lot of research on your deck through the Duelist Database."

Keith hesitated a bit, making Kenzie's smirk. "Heh, there's no way you'll get past my machine monsters, especially with opening moves like that. You'll lose the same way you did even if I'm not cheating this time."

She huffed a little as she drew her card: Gravekeeper's Guard. She decided to set that card out on the field also. Keith was a bit peeved at that. "Dammit! What're you trying to prove? I told you that's not gonna work on me!"

"Well then, attack it," Kenzie suggested plainly.

"Heh, I've got other plans," he announced while drawing his card. "I'll sacrifice Overdrive for Akihiron (monster), and end my turn."

Kenzie sighed, gaining a Raigeki from her draw. _'If he's playing by what I'm saying, he'll never win,'_she thought. _'Idiot.'_

"I'll lay this face down and end my turn." Kenzie had placed one of her Gravekeeper's Servants down for later.

Keith smirked as he drew his card. "That's such an obvious trap; you really are a bad duelist," he mused. "I activate Monster Reborn and bring back my Overdrive in attack mode. But, I'm not attacking your obvious trap." He finished with a sneer, making your nose cringe in disgust.

'_Ugh. Well, as long as he thinks it's a trap, my strategy will just be less obvious to him until later…'_

Drawing House of Adhesive Tape (trap) from her deck, she decided to chance summoning Bistro Butcher. Flitting her card from her hand, she put it on the table, holding it in place a bit with her index finger. "I place Bistro Butcher in attack mode!"

"And you activated my Trap Hole," Keith smirked widely. "Looks like you still lack an attacking monster. You'll never beat me if you keep everything in set-defense, Kenzie."

Kenzie said nothing, but swore she was going to hurt him so bad during this duel; he'd learn not to mess with her again!

She stayed stoic. "I end my turn then."

Keith grinned as he drew his next card, looking directly at Kenzie. "It's futile, you know. I can't see why you're still doing this, especially since you're so ready to skip your turns if something doesn't work."

Kenzie gave a mild glare. "Keith, stop wasting my time. Besides, you gave me the second chance. If you want me to back out so much, then it makes me wonder if you're really the one who's scared to go on."

"Tch!" his mouth twitched, looking angrier than she had ever seen him before. "I sacrifice my Overdrive and my Akihiron for Launcher Spider (monster-Attack2200)! Attack that worthless facedown card!"

Flipping over her card, it revealed Kenzie's Gravekeeper's Guard (1000/1900), sending it to the graveyard. "I hope you know that you activated my monster's special effect; it sends one monster on my opponent's side of the field back to their hand," she said, giving him a grave-like stoic look. "And since your only monster on the field is Launcher Spider…"

Keith's face contorted into something closely related to contempt. He took his Launcher Spider off the field and back to his hand, probably musing with strings of curses in his mind.

"Fine, I end my turn."

Kenzie gave a slight smile to make it seem like she was trying to hold it back just to peeve him off even more. She drew her card, acquiring Penguin Soldier from her deck. Giving a delightfully evil smirk, Kenzie glanced over at Keith. "Well, I think it's time I stopped going easy on you, Keith."

"What're you talking about!" But Kenzie knew he was paling at the fact that he had no monsters on the field.

"I set a monster card, and activate my face down card," she stated (her monster card is Spirit Reaper). "Gravekeeper's Servant; and I think I'll activate the other one from my hand as well."

Keith chuckled in relief after seeing her play. "Gravekeeper's Servant? _That's_ your strategy? Please! I know every strategy around that card! I _taught_ Bonz how to use it!"

Kenzie gave a dark expression, more like a solemn warning. "Who said _that_ was my strategy…?"

Keith didn't answer.

"Well, that ends my turn."

He gave a bewildered expression. Keith was obviously confused that she hadn't attacked him directly; he was wide open!

Keith composed himself rather quickly, drawing his next card. "I summon Oni Tank T-34 and attack your face down card!"

"Don't forget to discard two cards from the top of your deck to your graveyard from my Gravekeeper's Servants!"

He twitched as he did so.

Kenzie flipped her Spirit Reaper face up, but didn't put it in her graveyard, and since Bandit Keith was expecting it to go there, he was growing impatient.

He tipped his glasses down to glare at you. "What're you doing? Put your monster in the graveyard," he grounded out.

She gave a sweet smile. "But you forgot about Spirit Reaper's special effect; it can't be destroyed through Battle. It may only have 300 defense points, but it's still hard to get through."

Keith let go of his anger rather quickly, letting his back recline against the chair, signaling he was done. "Your monster _will_ go to the graveyard; just watch."

Kenzie returned to a bemused stoicism. "Well, it's my turn now," she said, drawing her card. It was Skull Invitation (trap). Your heart leapt. This was perfect! "I set one card face down and end my turn."

Keith said nothing as he drew his next card, straightening up in his chair…and smirked, again. "I activate Premature Burial (magic), and at a cost of 800 Life Points, I can get any monster card back from my graveyard!" he quipped arrogantly. "But, what should I choose?"

Kenzie rolled her eyes. _'It won't matter what he gets; he won't be getting past my Spirit Reaper.'_

"I'll bring back Cyber-Tech Alligator!"

"Good; because you just activated my trap card, Skull Invitation."

Keith obviously didn't pay any mind to it, but kept going anyway. "And then I'll sacrifice my Launcher Spider for my _other_ Launcher Spider!"

Kenzie rolled her eyes. "Whatever, but you get docked 300 Life Points from my trap card for every card that goes to the graveyard."

Keith glared through his ray bans…she knew he was. "It won't matter since I have one of the strongest creatures in my deck on the field to wipe out your Spirit Reaper! So I attack it!"

She huffed. Man he was being kind of stupid…

"I'm sure you're aware that you have to discard two more cards from the top of your deck, _and_ you get docked another 600 Life Points for both of those cards."

He was baring teeth now, but Kenzie wasn't fazed at his rage. "It won't MATTER because your Spirit Reaper is GONE!"

Kenzie looked at him in disbelief, crossing her arms in a tired manner. "What part of 'can't be beat in battle' did you _not_ understand?"

He partially relaxed back in his seat. "Whatever. I'll find a way."

She drew her card solemnly, putting Don Zaloog (effect/monster) into her hand, choosing not to do anything. Kenzie noted that now Bandit Keith was at 6000 Life Points and she still had all of hers intact. Not having more to do other than what she currently had going, she skipped her turn.

Bandit Keith immediately drew his card upon Kenzie ending her turn, like he was trying to prove something. Then he did about the most mind-numbing action she had ever expected:

"I attack again with Launcher Spider!"

Almost losing grip with whatever sick reality this was, Kenzie about screamed back, "WHAT! What the hell is your problem! I told you that you can't get rid of my Spirit Reaper that way!"

Keith took of his sunglasses hastily, throwing them to the ground beside him with a nasty plastic resonation that seemed to echo an impending doom…

"I TOLD YOU, I ATTACK WITH LAUNCHER SPIDER!"

Kenzie couldn't compile enough of her brain to even know why he had just yelled at her like that… She knew she had some odd look of incomprehension on her face.

Kenzie knew Keith was a hot-tempered guy at times, but it just did not seem like him… There was just no way! He never yelled like that even when he got caught cheating at the tournament.

But he was the one who had just said it; it sounded like Keith, even though it…didn't.

"I told you," he grounded out to the point where it ruggedly dragged her current thoughts to his attention. "I just said I attacked with Launcher Spider, now _do_ something!"

Kenzie fumbled a bit in speaking at first, still taken from Keith's earlier explosion. "Oh! Well, since you attacked you discard two from the top of your deck from my magic cards and then the effect of Skull Invitation…"

Keith was now at 5400 Life Points; almost half of what he started with.

"I _know_ what those do," he said curtly, now carrying himself in a different manner. He seemed annoyed, arrogantly annoyed, but that wasn't really Keith's style from what Kenzie had remembered… "Is your Spirit Reaper gone?"

She gave a slightly discerning look, now suspicious about something. "No…"

Kenzie waited to see if Keith was going to say something to that answer; maybe he'd yell insanely again, or maybe he'd go back to how he was acting before…

"So go already," he told her in perturbed fashion, startling her on the inside. "I don't need you _wasting_ my time."

Glaring lightly, Kenzie drew Card Destruction from her deck, more than a little put off from Keith's outburst and odd behavior; she really couldn't think of what to do, so, she decided to skip her turn. But before she did, Kenzie flipped a card up to where he could see her opposite hand, saying, "And to keep to the six-card limit per hand, I discard one card to my graveyard."

She had discarded House of Adhesive Tape.

Bandit Keith smirked, delighted that Kenzie had done so. "And don't forget that you take a hit from your own trap card for it."

Kenzie gave him _quite_ the discerning glare; she couldn't believe he had the audacity to imply that she was so stupid of her own deck strategy when _he_ didn't even know she had one yet! "I _know_," she grounded out in contempt.

And as such, due to Kenzie's Skull Invitation trap card, she was docked 300 Life Points, bringing her down to a whopping 7700.

Keith was next, and of course, what he did was no surprise; he attacked with Launcher Spider again. Through Kenzie's nice ring of magic and trap cards his Life Points dropped to 5400.

What was wrong with this guy? She _never_ knew Keith to actually be _this_ impulsive. He was more of like an arrogant, crafty guy most of the time. She rarely saw him like this, but that was only when she had heard about the rumor that he had pulled a gun on Pegasus J. Crawford when he was disqualified from the Duelist Kingdom Semi-Finals.

Upon Kenzie's next draw, she came up with a rather nice card to screw Bandit Keith with: Man-Eater Bug. "I set one monster card onto the field and end my turn," she stated plainly.

Keith responded with a really dirty look directed towards Kenzie. She got the feeling that maybe he was trying to kill her with that "mind over matter" technique or something. More or less, she weren't fazed.

"I sacrifice my Launcher Spider for Pendulum Machine!" he announced, earning him a raised eyebrow from Kenzie. Pendulum Machine only had 1650 attack points compared to Launcher Spider's 2200. But, guessing from Duelist Logic ™ he was probably doing it to see if a different monster could beat Kenzie's Spirit Reaper.

"Now, attack her face down monster card!"

She flipped over your face down card, revealing Man-Eater Bug. Not bothering to look at what priceless face Keith had plastered to his face at the moment, she sent it to the graveyard then informing him that, "I can send one monster on your side of the field to the graveyard, and I send your only one: Pendulum Machine."

From Skull Invitation, Kenzie suffered 300, as well as Bandit Keith. The score was 7400 to Keith's 4200.

Snorting at the brief glance she took from Bandit Keith's shocked face, she drew a card. Alright! Delinquent Duo! But Kenzie decided to save that for when he was _really_ getting down on his luck…

…But she had some better plans this time around.

"I switch Spirit Reaper to attack mode!" Kenzie announced, maybe even a little darkly, dramatically flipping her monster to the upright position.

Keith smirked. "What good is that? You'll hardly make a dent with that weak monster."

It was true, he had only dropped the 300 attack points she had attacked him with, leaving him at 3900 Life Points. However, he had overlooked something as well…

"I _assume_ that you were unaware of the second ability of Spirit Reaper; when it causes damage to your Life Points, you must discard one card from your hand," Kenzie suggested slyly. "Now discard a card."

Keith gave a disapproving grunt as he did.

Kenzie gave him a cagey smirk. "…And then you'll be 300 Life Points less," she chided. "Where are you at now, 3600 Life Points?"

He was now giving Kenzie a _very_ dirty look, making her a little uneasy about being so arrogant. "That's more than enough to beat you by," he warned with his voice giving off a psychotic edge that sent a shiver down her spine. "Besides, I have monsters in my deck that can cut off this random deck strategy of yours."

Composing herself from his edgy tone, Kenzie gave another discerning glare as she activated another magic card. "Oh really?" she mocked. "Well, what if those cards you're talking about are discarded to the graveyard?"

Keith's face betrayed his frustrated tone. "Wh-WHAT are you TALKING about!"

Flitting her hand in arrogantly-played elegance, she knew she finally had Keith where she wanted him. Next turn, he'd be dead.

"I activated Delinquent Duo," Kenzie sneered lightly, trying to keep from showing how much she hated Bandit Keith. Looking to his mildly shocked face, she mocked, "I can assume you know enough of Duel Monsters that you'll know what this card does, right?"

Keith didn't answer.

An annoyed surge of anger swept across her face. "Well, since you apparently _don't know anything_, I'll tell you. Delinquent Duo, at a cost of 1000 of my Life Points makes you discard two cards from your hand," she concluded with her voice growing with more emotion. "And thanks to my Skull Invitation trap card, you're down to 3000 Life Points, Keith."

The score was now Kenzie: 6100 (don't forget to add in Skull Invitation's effect for this number), and Keith: 3000; a _very_ big difference.

Kenzie saw Keith jerk from the corner of her eye, waiting for him to discard his two cards. After a while, he begrudgingly answered with a, "I'll discard these two," and then started his turn.

After a brief moment, he decidedly did nothing.

…And the brief moment that Kenzie realized he had done nothing, the grin she wore could rival that of a cheshire cat. The look never left her face for the remainder of her turn.

However, Kenzie found it oddly striking that she had drawn yet _another_ House of Adhesive Tape…

Brushing those thoughts aside, Kenzie summoned Don Zaloog (effect monster) in attack mode, setting into play her plan…

"First I attack directly with Spirit Reaper!" Although she looked like she was really enjoying it, she was forcing _some_ self-control to not sound like she was. "And then I'll attack with Don Zaloog!"

Kenzie paused, just to savor the look of horror that had instantly culminated on Keith's face.

"And if my calculations are correct, that should bring you down to 400 Life Points," she informed him, jeering slightly. "However, it's too bad for you that my Don Zaloog is also an effect monster.

"When Don Zaloog is able to cause damage to your Life Points, I can either choose to randomly discard a card from your hand, or have you discard two card from the top of your deck to the graveyard…," Kenzie smirked darkly, enjoying the revenge she was finally being able to wager on this low-life; he had ruined her reputation as a duelist! Even if it would kill her in the end, she would steadily get it back and this just so happened to be the first, glorious step taking her forward in her mission.

"…And since it serves my purposes in defeating you _this_ turn, I'll have you discard two cards from the top of your graveyard," she grinned, her posture suddenly snapping straight in regal air.

From Skull Invitations effect, discarding two cards would cost him 600 Life Points, and he only had 400 left…

Keith stared down at his side of the field, quite literally shaking with rage, but the fact that he was so solemnly quiet bothered Kenzie as she gathered up her deck into her hands. And he kept mumbling something incoherent…

Kenzie finally became aware of the rather large crowd encircling the miniature dueling arena Keith had set up; they were mumbling and whispering furiously about how she had beat Bandit Keith. Kenzie knew she didn't have to say anything else to Bandit Keith to rub in her victory. The fact that nearly half of the town seemed to be here right now was a sufficiently given humiliation for the cheat, so she decided to begin to make her way through the crowd…

"_YOU!_"

Kenzie jolt-spun around to face Keith; she knew he was the one who had called her back, but his voice had been so psychotic and angry… Like that of a madman, a genuine madman.

"_YOU!_" he spat again with the same venom and ferocity, making a frightful edge pull at her insides as spit flew viciously from his mouth. "_YOU_ cheated! I don't LOSE to trash like _you_!"

Kenzie brows pulled into a dark scowl, hands planted defiantly on her hips as she briefly sat down her suitcase, her purse (where her deck had been put in the commotion) dangling at her side. "_No_, I didn't cheat," Kenzie answered tersely. "You're just mad that I beat you fair and square in front of all these people, and that makes _you_ the real 'trash,' now doesn't it?"

Before Kenzie could finish her snappy comeback with a quip, arrogant smile, she had been startled by the violent "CRASH" of the lushly furnished table on the unforgiving concrete. She saw the table destroyed beyond repair by deep engraved scratches as the hollow sounds it made embedded themselves' into her skin…

A pressure had overcome Kenzie's throat, making her neck stiff, and hard to move. Gagging, she saw the uncomfortably close face of Bandit Keith, his pale blue eyes giving off a murderous glint in them. "I'VE HAD ABOUT ENOUGH OF THAT MOUTH OF YOURS! I'll _KILL_ YOU BEFORE I ACCEPT DEFEAT!"

His grip tightened in response to the surging anger from his remarks, making her cough as she clawed at his wrists… Adrenaline surged through Kenzie's limbs, making her frantically flail around, her breathes coming in shorter, much shorter than Keith would allow Kenzie for every passing second his grip got tighter…

"Let go of her, you loser!"

**WHAM**

The hollow, slightly watery sound of fist to skin contact resounded in front of Kenzie's face. Keith had let go of her neck, and Kenzie collapsed unceremoniously to the ground, clutching her neck and coughing like her body would cave in at any moment. But breaking Kenzie out of her coughing fit was an authoritative voice, but one that told her that the voice may have been into fashion for no apparent reason…

"Ugh…you make me sick, Keith," she told his lifeless body. Apparently she had knocked him out with one punch… "So I was more than glad to have an excuse to sock ya a good one for that little display."

This, "girl," who had saved Kenzie certainly wasn't modest as she had come to notice. She was wearing some white girdle-top, with a sleeveless, lavender, hoodie-vest, unzipped. It was accompanied by the same lavender-colored miniskirt, and stiletto boots. Kenzie inwardly shuddered as she glanced at the sharp heels…

"Hey, you okay?"

Violently pushing Kenzie from her reverie, she noticed that the blonde had bent down a bit to come closer to her face. Kenzie looked at her dumbly, blinking accommodating her queried face.

"Hey! Are you sure you're okay?" her voice poked through Kenzie's confusion as she sat there in front of her kneeled person. "He didn't do anything to you, did he…!" her voice grasped seriously, venomous, acid as she glinted over towards Keith's prone body, her fist shaking in anger.

"If I hate anything at all, it's a sore loser…," she seethed even more, scaring Kenzie with the passing thought that she may lash out at any moment. She was tightening the lid up on the cap of her anger, Kenzie could tell.

"No! I'm fine!" Kenzie squeaked out, afraid she may actually kill the guy…

Her face softened as she turned back to Kenzie gradually, much to her ease. "That's good, because if he had hurt you, I was going to drive my heel-"

Kenzie raised a defensive hand, becoming a bit squeamish at the thought of what the girl may do with that stiletto heel… "No, please don't say it," she managed weakly.

It was quiet a moment, perhaps letting Kenzie's stomach settle from the latter thoughts running through Kenzie's head. In any case, she startled Kenzie when she announced very excitedly, making Kenzie's heart jump to the confines of her ribcage. "Hey! I know you!"

Kenzie jumped a couple of feet, still sitting on the ground, and clutching her aching chest. "Um…you…you do?"

She smiled giddily, her hands bawled up next to her chin. "Yeah! The American Tournament Winner! Kenzie Ray!" she cried. "We girls gotta stick together, you know!"

"Um…," was all Kenzie could manage to answer with, the excitement of this girl leaving her speechless.

Wait.

She looked so familiar… The blonde hair…that _face_! Kenzie KNEW she had seen her from somewhere before!

She posed for Kenzie, bringing her back from her berating thoughts. She shifted her weight to one hip, her hand on it, and bringing her other hand to kiss her two forefingers. She giggled a bit. "I'm Mai Valentine," she claimed almost arrogantly; it was covered by this form of sugary-ness…

Kenzie snapped her fingers in recognition, her eyes brightening. "That's right; The Mai from Duelist Kingdom? You were awesome! I loved your Harpie Deck!"

Mai laughed in self-egoism, extending an index finger. "Of course you do!" she said sweetly, then got serious again, her hands crossing over her chest. "But I was wondering, where are you staying at? I know you're here for Kaiba's upcoming tournament, but I was wondering if you'd like some practice runs against my deck." She gave Kenzie a wink. "It'd be nice to see the two greatest female duelists at it!"

'_Well, I'm not as great as she claims, obviously… Did she forget I won by default?'_

Kenzie shook her head a bit to clear it. "Well, I'm supposed to be staying at this hotel here," she pointed to her side with an extended thumb, her face dropping to a disgusted frown, "but the Prime Minister of Japan has taken my room, it seems. And that receptionist said there were no more rooms available…"

Kenzie was starting to brood again, something she did often nowadays when she was back home. She had thought she'd be able to get away from it…

"Hey! Don't look so down!" Mai slapped her back in good fun, almost making Kenzie fall over from her sitting position on the unforgiving concrete. "If you have no other place to go, I guess I could let you room with me at my apartment while you're here."

Kenzie's eyes mildly bulged. "What! No! I couldn't! I'd be too much of a hassle!"

Mai gave her a blank look, priceless really, but then it turned deviously sly. "What're you talking about? You act like I was going to let you stay for free…"

Kenzie facefaulted, feeling a sweatdrop make its way down her face. "Oh…?"

Mai put a defiant hand on her hip, making her seem overbearingly aristocratic at that moment. "Hey, I think it's cool you taught Bandit Keith a lesson, but that won't pay the extra food I'm gonna have to buy if you're boarding with me, now will it?"

Kenzie could only stare.

She was so nice, but yet, so…so…

"And besides, it costs extra if random people room at the complex I live at anyway for a period of more than two weeks," she explained. "I'm offering a roof over your head while you're here, so you should be lucky, but I'm not going to mother you like a baby chick. I know you're a big girl, and I _know_ you're smart enough, so you'll have to provide mainly for yourself."

"Greedy" just didn't seem the word for how she was. It was more like, she was being nice, but then trying to seem mean to justify her actions or something…

Kenzie was still starting up at her in shock, and Mai had noticed. She had slowly gotten a tad irritated, pulling Kenzie up roughly, and grabbing her suitcase. Luckily, Kenzie's purse was still attached to her person.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she pursed her lips a bit, dragging Kenzie through the crowd. "I just gave you a place to stay and you sit there on the dirty sidewalk! I swear! People are so rude these days!"

"No, I-," her berating demands had only taken Kenzie by surprise. Mai's very presence demanded attention, and she just didn't feel right cutting her off in her ranting when she just met her… "I-… Thank you, Mai."

Mai gave Kenzie a warm smile, looking back at her as she finally saw that she could walk herself. "No problem, kid. And since I'm feeling so generous, I'll take you out to lunch."

Kenzie's smile brightened. "Oh wow! Thanks Mai!"

Mai was still walking, keeping her pace as she replied plainly, "I won't be buying for you."

"Oh." Kenzie's face sunk a little. _'Damn, I think she's gonna nickel and dime me more than that doctor…'_

But she still smiled. Mai was a good person, she just didn't like to show it, obviously, and she would definitely make life here at Domino a lot more interesting for Kenzie.

(supposed scene change/break)


End file.
